A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic commerce and, more particularly, to an apparatus and methods for determining non-obvious savings in the purchase of goods and services.
B. Description of the Related Art
The Internet has been hailed the marketplace of the future, a result of its accessibility and usability. A computer equipped with a communication mechanism such as a modem and telephone connection is nearly all that is necessary to gain access to the Internet. A program called a browser, such as the Netscape Navigator from Netscape Corporation, makes it a simple task to traverse the vast network of information available on the Internet and, specifically, its subpart known as the “World Wide Web.”
The architecture of the Web follows a conventional client-server model. The terms “client” and “server” are used to refer to a computer's general role as a requester of data (the client) or provider of data (the server). Under the Web environment, Web browsers reside in clients and specially formatted “Web documents” reside on Internet (Web) servers. Web clients and Web servers communicate using a protocol called “HyperText Transfer Protocol” (HTTP).
In operation, a browser opens a connection to a server and initiates a request for a document. The server delivers the requested document, typically in the form coded in a standard “HyperText Markup Language” (HTML) format. After the document is delivered, the connection is closed. The browser displays the document or performs a function designated by the document.
Every day, more people gain access to the Web, and every day, more of them are shopping online. Online shopping provides a level of convenience they want, need and will soon demand. Electronic commerce or “e-commerce” is the term often used to refer, at least in part, to online shopping on the Web. E-commerce is a unique opportunity for businesses of any size. E-commerce can expand a company's marketplace-and consequently, its customer database. By simply providing a Web server having information on the company's product offerings and the customer database, and linking the Web server to the Web, the company can track visits, sales, buying trends and product preferences-all at the customer level. The company can then present its customers with products they are most likely to buy-on an individual basis. For this reason alone most marketing professionals consider the Web to be one of the best direct marketing tools.
But the number of retailers with online stores is growing exponentially every year, making it increasingly difficult for online shoppers to navigate the Web to locate particular products at the best prices. At one site, called the “Internet Mall,” online shoppers can browse through more than 20,000 “virtual stores.” This challenge for consumers also introduces a problem for merchants in designing campaigns to attract consumers to the merchants' Web sites and away from their competitors' sites.
Certain known business methods, and conventional implementations of those methods, give consumers greater control over a business deal by permitting consumers to set the price they are willing to pay for selected products and/or services, such as travel resources like airfare, car rentals, and similar travel commodities. Such methods and implementations, however, do not necessarily provide consumers with the best available price for the products and/or services, and consequently, they do not permit the merchants to claim that they deliver the best available price for a particular product or service. Consequently, consumers may still be paying too much for products and services using these implementations.
There is therefore a need for a system that can attract more consumers to a Web server by delivering on a claim that the merchant offers the best available price for a particular product or service. Such a system not only permits the server to expose more consumers to its products and services but also it permits the server to expose an increasing number of consumers to information such a advertisements for products and services.